Teen mom, newborn eye new life from Tijuana migrant shelter

In this June 10, 2019 photo, Salvadoran teen migrant Milagro de Jesus Henriquez Ayala carries her newborn son Alexander, as she boards Rev. Albert Rivera’s car, outside the Tijuana General Hospital in Mexico. Rev. Rivera organized a protest and got human rights officials involved when the hospital initially denied her father access to her after she gave birth. (AP Photo/Emilio Espejel)

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TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — A 1-month-old boy born to a Salvadoran teen is starting his life at a migrant shelter in Tijuana.

Milagro de Jesús Henríquez Ayala says the cramped cinderblock room she shares with about 25 other migrants is not ideal for raising her newborn son, but the 16-year-old mom says it is better than her violent homeland that she fled with her younger sister, Xiomara.

The sisters are among an untold number of Central American youths who traveled without parents, accompanied only by other migrants in a caravan that crossed Mexico and landed in crime-ridden Tijuana in November.Henríquez Ayala got pregnant by a boyfriend shortly before arriving.

They say they no longer seek the American dream. They now hope to build a life in Mexico.

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